‘Super disabilities’ vs ‘Disabilities’?:Theorizing the role of ableism in (mis)representational mythology of disability in the marketplace

People with disabilities (PWD) constitute one of the largest minority groups with one in five people worldwide having a disability. While recognition and inclusion of this group in the marketplace has seen improvement, the effects of (mis)representation of PWD in shaping the discourse on fostering marketplace inclusion of socially marginalized consumers remain little understood. Although effects of misrepresentation (e.g., idealized, exoticized or selective representation) on inclusion/exclusion perceptions and cognitions has received attention in the context of ethnic/racial groups, the world of disability has been largely neglected. By extending the theory of ableism into the context of PWD representation and applying it to the analysis of the We’re the Superhumans advertisement developed for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, this paper examines the relationship between the (mis)representation and the inclusion/exclusion discourse. By uncovering that PWD misrepresentations can partially mask and/or redress the root causes of exclusion experienced by PWD in their lived realities, it contributes to the research agenda on the transformative role of consumption cultures perpetuating harmful, exclusionary social perceptions of marginalized groups versus contributing to advancement of their inclusion

Memories for Life: A Review of the Science and Technology

This paper discusses scientific, social and technological aspects of memory. Recent developments in our understanding of memory processes and mechanisms, and their digital implementation, have placed the encoding, storage, management and retrieval of information at the forefront of several fields of research. At the same time, the divisions between the biological, physical and the digital worlds seem to be dissolving. Hence opportunities for interdisciplinary research into memory are being created, between the life sciences, social sciences and physical sciences. Such research may benefit from immediate application into information management technology as a testbed. The paper describes one initiative, Memories for Life, as a potential common problem space for the various interested disciplines

The Dynamics of Transformation in the Development of Digital Services

Service providers are increasingly depending and using digital infrastructure and tools provided by digital platforms to transform their services and develop digital ones that meet the needs of heterogeneous end users. However, while there is an emerging literature of developing digital services, little is known about the dynamics of transformation. Using multiple cases of firms that develop digital services, the digital service taxonomy was synthesized to understand the dynamics of transformation in developing digital services. This study identifies five main dynamics: the services experience, the service process, the service capabilities, the service environment and the service delivery.  Each of those dynamics and their associated factors is explored under the objectives of business, interaction and technology. This enables us to extend the existing literature on digital service development in particular and contributes to the research of digital innovation in general

The organizational implications of medical imaging in the context of Malaysian hospitals

This research investigated the implementation and use of medical imaging in the context of Malaysian hospitals. In this report medical imaging refers to PACS, RIS/HIS and imaging modalities which are linked through a computer network. The study examined how the internal context of a hospital and its external context together influenced the implementation of medical imaging, and how this in turn shaped organizational roles and relationships within the hospital itself. It further investigated how the implementation of the technology in one hospital affected its implementation in another hospital. The research used systems theory as the theoretical framework for the study. Methodologically, the study used a case-based approach and multiple methods to obtain data. The case studies included two hospital-based radiology departments in Malaysia. The outcomes of the research suggest that the implementation of medical imaging in community hospitals is shaped by the external context particularly the role played by the Ministry of Health. Furthermore, influences from both the internal and external contexts have a substantial impact on the process of implementing medical imaging and the extent of the benefits that the organization can gain. In the context of roles and social relationships, the findings revealed that the routine use of medical imaging has substantially affected radiographers’ roles, and the social relationships between non clinical personnel and clinicians. This study found no change in the relationship between radiographers and radiologists. Finally, the approaches to implementation taken in the hospitals studied were found to influence those taken by other hospitals. Overall, this study makes three important contributions. Firstly, it extends Barley’s (1986, 1990) research by explicitly demonstrating that the organization’s internal and external contexts together shape the implementation and use of technology, that the processes of implementing and using technology impact upon roles, relationships and networks and that a role-based approach alone is inadequate to examine the outcomes of deploying an advanced technology. Secondly, this study contends that scalability of technology in the context of developing countries is not necessarily linear. Finally, this study offers practical contributions that can benefit healthcare organizations in Malaysia

The institutional character of computerized information systems

We examine how important social and technical choices become part of the history of a computer-based information system (CB/SJ and embedded in the social structure which supports its development and use. These elements of a CBIS can be organized in specific ways to enhance its usability and performance. Paradoxically, they can also constrain future implementations and post-implementations.We argue that CBIS developed from complex, interdependent social and technical choices should be conceptualized in terms of their institutional characteristics, as well as their information-processing characteristics. The social system which supports the development and operation of a CBIS is one major element whose institutional characteristics can effectively support routine activities while impeding substantial innovation. Characterizing CBIS as institutions is important for several reasons: (1) the usability of CBIS is more critical than the abstract information-processing capabilities of the underlying technology; (2) CBIS that are well-used and have stable social structures are more difficult to replace than those with less developed social structures and fewer participants; (3) CBIS vary from one social setting to another according to the ways in which they are organized and embedded in organized social systems. These ideas are illustrated with the case study of a failed attempt to convert a complex inventory control system in a medium-sized manufacturing firm

Pervasive eHealth services a security and privacy risk awareness survey

The human factor is often recognised as a major aspect of cyber-security research. Risk and situational perception are identified as key factors in the decision making process, often playing a lead role in the adoption of security mechanisms. However, risk awareness and perception have been poorly investigated in the field of eHealth wearables. Whilst end-users often have limited understanding of privacy and security of wearables, assessing the perceived risks and consequences will help shape the usability of future security mechanisms. This paper present a survey of the the risks and situational awareness in eHealth services. An analysis of the lack of security and privacy measures in connected health devices is described with recommendations to circumvent critical situations

Big Data Privacy Context: Literature Effects On Secure Informational Assets

This article's objective is the identification of research opportunities in the current big data privacy domain, evaluating literature effects on secure informational assets. Until now, no study has analyzed such relation. Its results can foster science, technologies and businesses. To achieve these objectives, a big data privacy Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is performed on the main scientific peer reviewed journals in Scopus database. Bibliometrics and text mining analysis complement the SLR. This study provides support to big data privacy researchers on: most and least researched themes, research novelty, most cited works and authors, themes evolution through time and many others. In addition, TOPSIS and VIKOR ranks were developed to evaluate literature effects versus informational assets indicators. Secure Internet Servers (SIS) was chosen as decision criteria. Results show that big data privacy literature is strongly focused on computational aspects. However, individuals, societies, organizations and governments face a technological change that has just started to be investigated, with growing concerns on law and regulation aspects. TOPSIS and VIKOR Ranks differed in several positions and the only consistent country between literature and SIS adoption is the United States. Countries in the lowest ranking positions represent future research opportunities.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figure

A situated cultural approach for cross-cultural studies in IS

Cultural anthropology seeks to understand the similarities and differences among groups of people in the contemporary world. Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). This paper, provides a comprehensive framework of situated culture approach to study culture within IS discipline. This is achieved via an articulation of Structuration Theory and the provision of an approach to study cross-cultural phenomena within IS discipline. The paper proposes two main components of the Structuration Theory based analysis model which is proposed as a way to study culture within IS discipline. First, the paper presents ideas behind the practice lens for studying the use of technology, as proposed by Orlikowski (2000). Secondly, the paper presents a Structurational analysis approach as detailed by Walsham (2002). The paper argues that using a practice lens contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within the phenomena. Then, using a Structurational analysis approach contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared structures

Situated cultural approach versu predefined cultural archetypes models

Within the last 20 years, the practical relevance of researching cultural issues, and especially comparing phenomena across cultures, was questioned (Ferraro, 1990). However, the importance of cultural issues is becoming increasingly evident in many applied disciplines; these include the management of information technology (IT) (Davison and Martinsons, 2003). A normative literature review has been carried out in this paper to provide IS researchers with the milestones of studying culture in IS discipline. Although there are many different models of national culture, most IS research has tended to rely almost solely on Hofstede’s cultural model (Keil et al., 2000; Straub, 1994; Tan et al., 1995; Watson et al., 1994; Myers and Tan, 2002; Kirkman et al. 2006).). In this paper, the author provides a criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models and highlight the problems of using such approach in studying culture within IS discipline. The author demonstrates a comprehensive framework of situated culture approach to study culture within IS discipline, as alternative approach to avoid the criticism of predefined cultural archetypes models. This is achieved via an articulation of Structuration Theory. The author argues that using a practice lens for studying the use of technology by Orlikowski (2000), contributes to identifying the mediated shared structures between actors through understanding the actions of the actors within IS phenomena. Then, using a Structurational analysis approach by Walsham (2002) contributes to identifying the cultural dimensions that are embedded in the identified mediated shared structures

Theory borrowing in IT-rich contexts : lessons from IS strategy research

While indigenous theorizing in information systems has clear merits, theory borrowing will not, and should not, be eschewed given its appeal and usefulness. In this article, we aim at increasing our understanding of modifying of borrowed theories in IT-rich contexts. We present a framework in which we discuss how two recontextualization approaches of specification and distinction help with increasing the IT-richness of borrowed constructs and relationships. In doing so, we use several illustrative examples from information systems strategy. The framework can be used by researchers as a tool to explore the multitude of ways in which a theory from another discipline can yield the understanding of IT phenomena